Refined Lord-Shulman Theory for 1D Response of Skin Tissue under Ramp-Type Heat

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Continuum Mechanics
• Heat Transfer

Background:

• Skin tissue exhibits complex thermoelastic behavior under thermal loads.
• Accurate modeling is crucial for understanding tissue response and potential damage.
• Existing models may not fully capture the nuances of heat conduction in thin biological tissues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and analyze a mathematical model for thermoelastic skin tissue.
• To investigate the effects of ramp-type heating on skin tissue.
• To compare a refined Lord-Shulman theory with classical coupled thermoelasticity and a simpler Lord-Shulman theory.

Main Methods:

• Development of a one-dimensional mathematical model for thin skin tissue with clamped surfaces.
• Application of refined Lord-Shulman heat conduction theory.
• Utilizing Laplace transform techniques for analysis in the time domain.
• Numerical simulations to visualize temperature, dilatation, displacement, and stress distributions.

Main Results:

• The refined Lord-Shulman theory provides a detailed analysis of thermoelastic responses in skin tissue.
• Ramp-type heating on the outer surface significantly influences temperature and stress distributions.
• Comparisons highlight the differences in predictions between various thermoelastic theories.

Conclusions:

• The developed model offers a comprehensive understanding of thermoelastic skin tissue behavior.
• The study provides valuable insights into the mechanical and thermal responses of skin under specific boundary conditions.
• This research contributes to the field of thermal injury and tissue mechanics modeling.